Jordan's jump into the shoe world

by Christopher Suarez - Campus Talk

Tue, Apr 30th 2019 09:00 pm

Clothing brands are a key contribution to the social culture we live in. The way society thinks and acts is often shaped by these brands. When products are released you are able to see an immediate shift into what the crowd wants and there is no brand that has controlled society more than Jordan, a name that has gone international and becomes more than a brand but a way of life.

Jordan became an official brand in 1997. Many people think that the original Jordan was formed in 1985 when the first Jordan sneaker came out, but before 1997, Jordan was just a type of sneaker. Nike signed Michael Jordan to a 5-year-deal worth $2.5 million in 1984 and debuted his first Jordan sneaker in 1985. But until 1997 Jordan just released sneakers under Nike. It wasn’t until Nike noticed how powerful the Jordan brand was that it decided to make it a subgroup of the Nike brand.

The founder, Michael Jordan, had already built an image for himself on the basketball court. Since being drafted third overall in the 1983 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft, the player took the league by storm, becoming rookie of the year and dominating the league in just a short amount of time. His dominance of the game made the selling of his sneaker even easier. People all around the world idolized Jordan and looked for any way that they could be like him. So, when the Air Jordan 1 debuted, the sneaker sold itself.

My favorite sneaker of all time and the best selling Jordan sneaker, the Air Jordan 1’s took the sneaker world by storm. When Michael Jordan first wore the sneaker back in 1985, the NBA had banned it because it had little white in the sneaker. However, it was successful in the sneaker industry and sold millions of pairs in its first year.

Jordan hit a bump in the road when the Air Jordan 2’s came out in 1986. The sneaker did not sell as well as the Air Jordan 1’s did. However, the brand recovered when they released the Air Jordan 3’s in 1988. One of my favorite sneakers of all time, the Air Jordan 3’s features a clean silhouette with a canvas that gives it the ability to put all types of colors on the sneaker.

Jordan continued its yearly release of a new sneaker. Up until 2000, the brand would release a total of 15 sneakers in the span of 15 years and change the culture of sneakers forever.

But despite the dominance of the Jordan sneaker, the clothes released by the brand did not see the same success. Jordan would start releasing clothes in the 80’s and gained a lot of popularity with the Jordan flight suit. It was a clean design with breathable technology. Since then, the brand has been on a steady decline in terms of clothing.

If the Jordan brand is something you want to look into, be prepared to spend big money. The brand is only releasing a retro version of the original sneaker design. Some of those retro designs are really popular but most are just releases to remain relevant. The popular retro sneakers are the Air Jordan 1’s “Shattered Backboards,” “True Blue” Air Jordan 3’s and the Off-White Air Jordan 1’s. But the amount of good looking retro sneakers is shadowed by the sneakers that lack design.

In my opinion, I would go right to the original sneakers. The original versions of the sneakers are still sleek and fashionable. Aside from the Air Jordan 1’s, the Jordan 11’s and the Jordan 5’s are some of the best sneakers of all time. But because of their popularity, it would be difficult to find them in generic sneaker stores. To buy the original sneakers you would need to go to stores like Flight Club, Stadium Goods and Image.

Regardless, the Jordan brand has become a staple of the culture we live in today. Jordan is now an international figure and countless athletes, politicians, actors, musicians and more rock the Jordan sneaker.